


To Find What's Lost (aka Lost & Found)

by purajobot935



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury, Missions Gone Wrong, Ratchet wants to kill both of them, Separations, Sides is too stubborn to stay put, Sunny is too stubborn to die, Twins, Wilderness Survival, brothers in peril, sort of, this is not news
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-16
Updated: 2013-08-16
Packaged: 2017-12-23 17:08:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 10,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/929000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purajobot935/pseuds/purajobot935
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sideswipe will stop at nothing to find Sunstreaker when the latter goes missing after a battle..</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Some random little multi-chapter thing I wrote some time back in 2007.

"Ow!" Sideswipe yelped in surprise, then pouted. "Ratchet, you did that on purpose."

Sunstreaker snorted in disdain as he leaned back against one of the med tables opposite his twin brother, watching Ratchet perform a follow-up repair job.

"Stop being a big baby Swipe," he commented, crossing his arms over his glossy yellow chestplate.

"Yeah? Well you try being here with someone poking around near your pain receptors," Sideswipe shot back.

"I have," Sunstreaker replied. "And I made a slagging lot less noise than you."

"Only because you were too doped up on sedatives," the red twin retorted. "Ow! Ratchet! That hurt."

"Good," Ratchet snapped. "So unless you want me to flick my fingers in that direction again, shut up and let me concentrate on what I'm doing. And you," he pointed an energon-stained finger at Sunstreaker. "Either you be quiet, or I throw you out."

Sunstreaker scowled, but knew better than to say anything to the medic. Even he wasn't that brave. Instead, he watched in relative silence as Ratchet continued to work on his brother while for his part, Sideswipe contented himself to simply grimacing or wincing if there was a sudden flash of pain.

The red mech had been wounded in another battle with the Decepticons a couple of days ago, resulting in a damaged equilibrium center. It had been bad enough that he couldn't walk without Sunstreaker's help. Ratchet had fixed the worst of the damage, but said it was best if his circuits repaired themselves, with him giving them a little boost now and then to speed up the process, and fixing whatever his auto-repair systems may have overlooked. Which is what he was doing now.

He was grateful that Sideswipe had a strong warrior's body, in that his auto-repair mechanism worked relatively faster in comparison to a lot of the other Autobots – with the exception of his brother – and had already restored most of his balance in relation to sitting, standing and walking. Running around still meant tripping over his own feet, falling down, and colliding into stuff; and fighting was definitely out of the question at this point in time.

Sunstreaker had just un-spaced one of his soft cloths to buff up a dulled section of his shoulder armor, and Sideswipe was about to make fun of him for it, when they heard a small commotion outside the med-bay. Ratchet looked up with a scowl.

Long ago he'd had the public address system in the med-bay deactivated, as the last thing he needed were the alarms going off inside when he was in the middle of a delicate operation, or when he had patients who were supposed to be resting. If anyone wanted to alert him to anything, he said they could slagging well come down personally and let him know. Much to Red Alert's displeasure Prime had allowed it.

"This had better be good," he muttered.

"Maybe one of the Dinobots stepped on a Minibot again," Sideswipe said, eliciting a snort out of Sunstreaker.

"Don't even make jokes like that Sideswipe," Ratchet groused. " 'Cause Primus knows you're not the one who has to do the repairs later."

"No, that's what you're there for," the red twin replied with an angelic smile.

Ratchet was just pondering whether or not to cuff the cheeky Lamborghini over the head when the med-bay doors slid open, and Prime and Prowl walked in. One look at their faces and they knew the news was not going to be good.

"How are they doing Ratchet?" Prime asked.

"Well, big yellow here's just fine, but Sideswipe's not gonna be able to do any fighting for another two days or so," Ratchet replied, then looked warily at the Autobot Commander. "I know you two didn't come all the way down here just to ask about our twin terrors out of the goodness of your stone-cold sparks, so what's this really about?"

"We need Sunstreaker," Prowl said.

Sideswipe beat Ratchet to it. "Why?" He tried to sit up, but Ratchet placed a hand on his shoulder and kept him down. "What do you want with Sunny?"

"We just got some feedback from the sky-spy. Megatron's out there with a very large, very nasty-looking cannon," Prime said. "These small skirmishes we've been having were probably distractions to keep us from discovering what he was really doing."

"So you want me to go out there and slag a few 'Cons and basically give them something to shoot at while the rest of you dismantle Megatron's new play-thing?" Sunstreaker asked.

"Something like that, yes," replied Prowl.

"Forget it," Sideswipe said. "Sunny's not going out there without me."

"You are most certainly not going out there," Ratchet snapped. "You cant fragging walk straight, let alone fight."

"When do we leave?" the yellow mech asked.

"Immediately, if possible," Prime replied.

"Sunny, you cant be serious," Sideswipe protested.

"Relax Swipe, I'll be fine. We've done this a few million times, you know the drill."

"I just don't like the idea of you being out there without me to keep an optic on you."

"Please," Sunstreaker scoffed. "I take more care of you out there than you do of me."

"You wish Sunshine, I'm the one who-."

"Shut the frag up," Ratchet cut him off. "Sideswipe stays here. Sunstreaker can go if he wants, but he'd better be walking back in here on his own two feet or Primus help me, I'll slag all three of you, clear?"

"Yes Ratchet," Prime deadpanned. "Sunstreaker?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm coming." He subspaced his cloth and straightened as Prime and Prowl headed outside.

"Hey Sunny," Sideswipe called as Sunstreaker headed to the door as well. "Take care alright. Come back."

"You just lie there and get better," the yellow Lamborghini replied. "I'll be back." He left the med-bay.

Sideswipe sighed and looked at Ratchet. "You think he'll be okay?"

"Your brother has a good head on his shoulders. As long as he doesn't snap or do anything astoundingly stupid, he shouldn't even need to scratch his shiny little paint-job," the medic replied.

The red mech glanced back to the doors. If that was the case, then why did he have a funny feeling in his fuel-pump.

………


	2. Chapter 2

"Well this is just fragging dandy," Sunstreaker muttered as another rock flew up from his front tyre to hit his under-carriage, as they drove across the uneven desert ground. "I didn't volunteer for this mission just to have my finish chipped by a bunch of rocks." He swerved sharply to avoid another deep rut.

"Ah, quit yer belly-achin' Sunshine," Ironhide replied. "Y'think any of us wants to be out here either? Maybe y'd like ta suggest ta ol' Megatron ta plan his li'l hare-brained schemes some place more convinient for ya."

"Be quiet, both of you," Prime ordered. "Just because the light's fading doesn't mean they wont be able to see or hear us coming. So stop bickering and be alert."

"Roger that Prime," Ironhide replied.

Sunstreaker growled something about tubby aft-kissers and fell silent, focusing instead on trying to avoid anythng that might pose a threat to his paint-job – not an easy task since the sun had gone down quite some time ago and whatever moonlight there was, was obstructed by clouds. Add to that Prowl's advisement that they should drive without their headlights or the use of their satellite equipment, so as not to tip off Soundwave to their arrival, and it basically equalled to them going in blind. Sometimes he had to wonder how intelligent the intelligence department was.

The terrain soon became a lot more jagged. The desert ground fell away in places into deep canyons and narrow gorges, becoming more like ledges and cliffs than the vast expanse of flat ground they'd been covering before. Sunstreaker didn't like it. The whole thing just felt wrong, and he wondered why he'd even agreed to coming out here in the first place, instead of staying home and keeping an optic on his brother. he heard a dull thud and swerved sharply on pure instinct, screeching to a halt as a ball of violet flames took a chunk out of the ground where he'd previously been. Guess this was the place then.

"Autobots! Scatter and take cover!" Prime shouted as more flaming spheres burst amongst them, raising thick clouds of smoke and dust.

Sunstreaker didn't need to be told twice, he was already in the middle of doing just that. He heard the squealing and screeching of brakes as they were slammed on, and a pained cry as a couple of the others got hit and went down. Who it was exactly, he didn't know; he was too busy trying to avoid being hit himself which, after a while, became rather easy to do. He then realized that with all the dust and smoke being raised, his ground-hugging, low-slung Lamborghini form couldn't be seen as easily as an upright robot. It gave him half an opening to get closer and maybe take out whatever weapon was doing all this damage, provided he could get past the Seekers.

A purple sphere burst directly in front of his front bumper sending a wave of heat and flame washing over his hood and windshield. It hurt like hell, but his tough polymer armor withstood it. He winced, steeled himself and swerved to the left, trying to pin-point the direction from which it had come. He spun in a perfect 180 and stopped. A glint of silver. There he was.

The light, early night breeze cleared some of the smoke away to give Sunstreaker a quick glimpse of the situation. Three Autobots were down, a few of the others were injured – including Prime and Prowl – but were not out yet. Only Ironhide and himself were still functioning at full capacity, probably because of their tougher armor, something Megatron seemed to have overlooked.

Skywarp materialized and dived for the boulder that the old, red mech was crouching behind. Sunstreaker's blaster clicked into place on his spoiler, took aim and fired. The amber beam sailed clean over his roof and hit the Seeker square in the cockpit, sending him spiralling to the ground.

Ironhide looked back. "Thanks kid."

"Its up to us now old-timer," Sunstreaker said. "What do you say we end this and go home?"

"For once I agree with ya," Ironhide replied. "Take a look at the field kid. Ol' Megatron's gotten overconfident again, putting all his faith into his weapon, that he's only got his planes as back-up. If we can take out that cannon, our guys'll have a chance."

"I'll take it out," Sunstreaker revved his engine. "Just distract him long enough for me to get close and blow it up."

"Y'got it kid, just be careful."

"Just don't get hit."

"Don't intend ta." Ironhide transformed. "Here goes nothin'."

The red van drove out from behind the boulder, heading to where Megatron stood behind a rather large cannon, cackling maniacally. Ironhide skidded and swerved, enticing the Decepticon leader to try and hit him. Megatron took the bait, turning the cannon towards the red Autobot and away from Sunstreaker. The yellow Lamborghini sped forward, dodging shots from the jets with practiced ease. Guessing what the two were trying to do, Prowl called for the Autobots still standing to provide cover fire for the warrior.

The Seekers off his bumper, Sunstreaker increased speed just as Megatron got off a shot right under Ironhide's rear bumper. The red mech transformed and stumbled with a yelp, more affected by the force of the blast than the heat, and though not incapacitated, there was no way he could move fast enough to get out of the way of a second, more direct hit – one that could do considerable damage, toughened armor or not. With a final burst of speed, Sunstreaker reached the device, transformed swiftly and stuck his ener-dagger into the cable supplying the cannon with power.

Its outlet blocked, the resulting backlog caused the machine attached to the cannon to overload. Sunstreaker had just enough time to leap clear as the device exploded, and the resulting shockwave knocked Megatron away from the cannon.

"Autobots, FIRE!" Prime roared.

Beam after beam of golden energy hit the cannon as Sunstreaker picked himself off the ground, spitting and coughing to clear the dust from his mouth and air-intakes, just in time to hear Megatron's enraged bellow as the cannon went up in a ball of flames and smoke. He got to his feet and then registered the purple fusion-cannon energy heading right towards him. Reflexively he tried to leap clear, but groggy as he was from the explosion, he didn't quite make it all the way. The shot hit him square in the knee and he crumpled back to the ground with an agonized cry.

Megatron crossed the distance in three strides and hauled Sunstreaker up by the neck, tightening his grip around the warrior's vocalizer and cutting off any attempts to call for help, as he leveled his fusion cannon at the yellow mech's laser core.

"You will pay dearly for that, Autobot," he growled as Sunstreaker swung his good leg in a feeble effort to kick free. "And I will not miss this time."

"SUNSTREAKER!"

Prime ploughed roughly into Megatron, causing the Decepticon leader to release his hold on the warrior. Sunstreaker quickly rolled out of the way as the two leaders tussled, and tried to stand without putting too much weight on his damaged leg. That was when Starscream slammed into him at full force. The nose-cone of the jet driving hard into his mid-section. The warrior's second cry of pain was lost to the wind as Starscream rose, taking Sunstreaker with him.

"You may have escaped Megatron," the Seeker sneered. "But I still have a score to settle with you."

"Frag… you…," Sunstreaker snarled through clenched jaws as he gripped the jet's nose-cone to keep from falling. At the height they were flying, a fall could be fatal.

He tried to focus through the pain, wondering what the Air Commander was trying to do since they'd already left the battlefield behind. A hostage maybe, but why him? He had nothing to offer as a warrior. The answer came soon enough as the ledge fell away into a narrow gorge.

"So long Autobot," Starscream sneered. "Give Primus my regards."

He transformed in mid-air. Sunstreaker lost his hold and went plummeting towards the bottom of the gorge. The seeker fired his null rays after him, both of them hitting the yellow mech squarely, knocking him offline as the continued his downward spiral.

………


	3. Chapter 3

"Optimus Prime just radioed," Perceptor announced as he walked into the med-bay. "They have managed to destroy Megatron's new weapon and are currently on their way back."

"Is Sunny alright?" Sideswipe asked from where he sat on the med-table.

Ratchet had finished his work on the red mech some time ago, but the Lamborghini had chosen to remain in the med-bay till the others came back, promising to stay put on the table and not get in the way of whatever casualties there might be.

"He did not give me any further details than that Sideswipe, I'm sorry," replied Perceptor.

Sideswipe didn't answer and glanced anxiously at the doors again. He had to clutch the edges of the table hard to keep from jumping off it when the doors slid open again and Prime himself came limping in, looking considerably worse than when he'd left, holding a very damaged and blackened Cliffjumper under one arm. Ratchet rushed to take the Minibot from him, while Wheeljack went over to help Prime. The Autobot leader waved him away.

"I'm alright, help Smokescreen and Huffer," he said as Prowl walked in with the other Minibot in his arms and Trailbreaker followed with Smokescreen. "They got hit bad too. The rest of us can wait, we're not as badly damaged as they are."

Ironhide and Windcharger came in last and the doors shut behind them. Sideswipe looked frantically around for Sunstreaker, and not seeing him, dared to hope that maybe his brother had escaped injury and had gone back to their quarters so as not to crowd up the med-bay.

"What in the Pit happened out there?" Ratchet demanded.

"Megatron's new cannon," Trailbreaker said. "Designed to melt the plating right off of you. Those three took the first hits before we knew what was happening and then we had the Seekers to deal with as well as the cannon."

"We'd probably all be slag right now if it hadnt been for Ironhide and Sunstreaker," Windcharger added. "Their armor was thick enough to withstand it."

Sideswipe, forgotten for the moment as he sat on his table, stirred. "So… Sunny's alright then? Where is he?"

Ratchet looked up from where he'd been detaching burnt plating from Cliffjumper's body. Prime looked at Prowl. The others fell silent. Sideswipe cautiously slid off the table, letting one foot touch the ground.

"Where's Sunny?" he asked again.

"Your brother may have saved all our lives, son," Ironhide said.

"That's good." Sideswipe let his other foot touch the ground and straightened. "But that doesn't answer my fragging question. Where is my brother?"

"We don't know Sideswipe," Prime said at last.

"The SLAG is that supposed to mean?" Sideswipe asked. "You took him with you, why didn't you bring him back?!"

"Sideswipe calm down," Prowl said, his tone even.

"Don't slagging tell me to calm down! Where the slag is Sunstreaker?!" he asked a fourth time.

"We last saw Starscream flying off with him," replied Prowl. "We don't know what happened after that. We would have gone looking for him immediately, but there were too many of us injured and we don't know where Starscream may have taken him to, if indeed he took him anywhere at all."

"So you just LEFT him out there?!" Sideswipe demanded.

"We didn't abandon him, if that's what you're implying," Prime said. "We WILL look for him soon, I promise you."

Sideswipe shook his head. "How could you? He saved your collective hides and you just left him out there?! After all he's done for you, that's how you thank him?!"

"Sideswipe, we had injured mechs to think of," Windcharger tried to reason.

"Shut up!" the red warrior snapped, optics flaring. "You don't deserve him, not one of you!"

He darted to the doors faster than his damaged equilibrium center could keep up with him, and would have fallen flat on his face had Ironhide not stepped out and caught him.

"Get the frag off me!" Sideswipe shouted, trying to push the larger red mech away. "I have to find Sunny!"

"You are NOT running out in the middle of the night on some wild goose chase," Ratched stated matter-of-factly as he stalked up to check on the red warrior. "Especially not in your condition."

"Take it easy kid," Ironhide said. "We're gonna send out a search party ta look fer 'im, soon as its light."

"Anything could happen to him by then," Sideswipe replied, optics wide as he silently pleaded with the medic.

"Then let's hope to Primus nothing does," Ratchet replied, unfazed. "I'm sorry Sideswipe."

"Besides, there's even a chance Sunstreaker may have beaten Starscream, and may be on his way back here right now," said Trailbreaker. "So if you go running out there, you might miss him."

"I got 'im Ratch," Ironhide said as he helped Sideswipe to his feet, and waved off the medic. "Want me ta take 'im t'his quarters?"

"Do that," Ratchet ordered. "And then you get right back here for repairs."

"Gotcha Doc. C'mon kid, lets go." Ironhide began to steer Sideswipe out of the med-bay.

"Let go of me!" Sideswipe yelled as he was all but dragged out. "I need to find my brother."

"Don't make this any harder than it already is," Ironhide replied as he hauled him clear of the doors and into the hallway. "Now quit makin' a racket and follow me."

"I can find my own slagging way to my quarters," Sideswipe snarled. "I don't need you."

"All the same, I aint lettin' ya walk around on yer own. Now shut yer trap an' follow."

Swearing colorfully, the warrior could do nothing at the moment but follow the other red mech as he led them through one hallway, then another. Along the way, Ironhide began to inquire about Sideswipe's physical condition, to which the younger mech grudgingly answered.

"So then y'understand that the last thing y'wanna be doin' is gettin' inta a fight in yer state," Ironhide said.

"What? You want me to be Captain fragging obvious?" Sideswipe asked.

"I want ya t'be careful out there," Ironhide replied.

"Wait… what?" Sideswipe looked around and suddenly realized they weren't heading to the residence level, but to the exit. "You're letting me go?"

"I may not like yer brother, but there's no denyin' he saved our manifolds tonight. Saved mine twice. Y're right, we owe him, and y're the only one that can find 'im right now." He stopped at the exit. "So go. Go get yer brother."

Sideswipe took a step, then halted. "Wont you get in trouble for this?"

"Wouldn't be the worst thing I've gotten in trouble for. Now go on. Time's a-wastin' the longer y'stand here."

"I owe ya for this 'Hide."

"Naw, I'm returnin' yer brother the favor. Be careful out there."

"Thanks Ironhide." Sideswipe transformed, and was relieved to find that his equilibrium imbalance didn't affect him nearly as bad in car-form. Probably due to the fact that he was closer to the ground. Kicking his engine into gear, he sped out of the Ark and into the desert night.

………


	4. Chapter 4

Unbeknownst to Starscream however, his null rays may have just saved Sunstreaker's life rather than ended it, since they rendered him as limp as a dead fish by the time he hit the water of the river at the bottom of the gorge. The icy cold water that entered through his damaged knee shocked him back online as the strong undercurrent swept him further downstream. Regaining some of his senses, he kicked his good leg and managed to get his head and shoulders above the water. The river slammed him back against a boulder. Instinctively he grabbed onto it, ignoring the icy daggers of pain that shot through his chest and mid-section as he fought against the pull of the current.

He looked around frantically at both banks, trying to gauge which one was closer and whether he could get to it without bashing his body up even more than it already was. He also had no intentions of letting the river just carry him along to its end. Though he wouldn't rust, too much water could still do serious damage to his circuitry, and there was always the possibility the river itself ended in a very long drop onto a bed of more rocks. The last thing he wanted was to be mangled by a bunch of boulders. He'd never be able to live down the humiliation, 'live' being the key-word there.

He had to live.

He owed it to Sideswipe.

A sudden surge of current hit him and he lost his grip on the boulder to be swept up by the river again. Knowing that trying to swim against it would only sap what strength he had left, he went with the flow until he saw another sizable rock and lunged for it, cursing as the current slammed his injured leg against it. This one was considerably closer to the left bank than the previous one had been, so Sunsteaker decided to chance it.

He pushed off the boulder with his right leg and struck out for the bank as hard as he could. His battered body protested vehemently, but he ignored it, working his arms and good leg furiously in an effort to reach land. His circuits could not take much more of the cold river water.

His fingers brushed the soil of the bank and he gripped hard, only to have the loose, wet dirt break away in his hand. His other hand grabbed wildly at the long blades of grass only to tear them out by the roots. Cursing the fragile organic-ness of it all, Sunstreaker continued to scrabble and grab at the edge of the bank till he was able to get a firm hold on more solid ground. A small wave hit him in the face, sending icy cold water down his mouth and into his air-circulators, making him cough violently.

Knowing he couldn't take much more of the river, he drove his fingers hard enough into the ground to make them bleed. Then, clenching his jaws tight, he hauled his upper body onto the bank, groaning as his chest and mid-section shot bullets of pain through him. With a final effort he pulled the rest of himself completely out of the water, unable to stop a cry of pain escaping as his damaged knee bumped the ground.

With his last ounces of strength, he half-crawled, half-dragged himself on his elbows towards a tree further away from the river, feeling energon leak out of several wounds now that he was no longer being numbed by the cold water. He tried to take stock of any other damage only to find that most of his circuits had indeed shorted out, making a diagnosis impossible at the present moment. He activated his comm.link.

"Sunstreaker to base, come in," he hailed.

Dry static. Either the water had damaged his radio as well, or he was too far out of range to be heard. Making full use of several colorful slurs, he tried once more.

"Sunstreaker to base, come in fraggit! Jazz, Blaster, Sideswipe, anyone… can you hear me? Come in."

There was no response except for the crackle of dead air. Shutting off the link with a frustrated sigh, he finally reached the base of the tree and collapsed under it, passing out from pain and exhaustion almost immediately.

………


	5. Chapter 5

Sideswipe crept forward slowly on his tyres, switching off his engine as quietly as he could, as he neared the vicinity of the battle that had taken place earlier that night. Everything seemed back to normal save for the two winged-robot forms that walked around picking up whatever debris could be salvaged. He heard Starscream's voice clearly, whining as usual.

"I get rid of one of those meddlesome warrior twins and this is the thanks I get?" he groused. "Clean-up duty?"

A chill ran up Sideswipe's circuits as he sat in the shadows and listened, fighting the urge to run out and pound both Seekers into scrap, knowing he couldn't do it in his current condition. What did he mean by 'get rid'? Had he killed Sunstreaker and dumped his body somewhere? If that was the case, then there was nothing to stop Sideswipe from running out there to attack – however short the attack would be – because he didn't want to live without his brother.

"You don't know if he's dead," said the other Seeker, Thundercracker it sounded like. "For all you know he landed in the river. Its not as if you stopped to check."

"Either way he's as good as dead," Starscream replied. "By the time the effect of my null-rays wore off, he'd have already been dashed to pieces on the rocks."

"I'll believe it if we never see him again," Thundercracker said.

He subspaced a few more bits of debris, then took to the air and transformed, before leveling out and flying off. Starscream muttered something, then followed suit. Once Sideswipe could no longer hear the sound of their engines, he forced himself to wait another ten minutes before transforming slowly and heading towards the blackened slag that had once been Megatron's cannon. Not far from it he found Sunstreaker's dagger. Crouching carefully, he picked it up and cradled it in his hands for a moment before subspacing it. A few meters away he found energon stains on the ground, flecked with chips of yellow paint. Wincing, the red mech stood and gazed around. None of the others had mentioned Sunstreaker being hurt before Starscream carried him off.

"He said Sunny may have fallen in the river," Sideswipe muttered to himself. "For once I hope he's right."

Transforming back to car mode, he quickly drove to where the ledge fell away into the gorge, and reverted back to robot form. His vision blurred and he swayed, and would have pitched over the edge had he not sat down hard on his aft in a hurry. With his jet-pack also under repair, Sideswipe knew the only way to get down there was to climb down the rock-face and pray he didn't slip and break his neck. Giving up and going back was not an option. Sunstreaker needed him NOW.

Setting his mind to the task at hand, Sideswipe got on his hands and knees and backed slowly towards the edge. As soon as the tips of his feet met open space, he dropped to his stomach and slowly lowered his legs over, searching the surface for suitable foot-holds. He found a couple soon enough that could support his weight and stepped into them. Just before he lowered himself down, wishing for the twentieth time that he had Jazz's grappling hook attachment, he took out Sunstreaker's dagger and scratched a small 's.s' into the ground incase any Autobots came by later.

The climb down was a lot trickier than it had been in theory. For one, his equilibrium center had a field day trying to play 'catch-up' and several times he had to stop and cling to an outcrop or a hold till it righted itself. For another, even if he had been completely healthy, the lack of light would have still slowed him down considerably. There were times he missed a hold and went sliding down a few feet or so before driving his fingers into a crack and hanging on for dear life till he found a proper hold again. Ratchet was going to murder him when he eventually saw the state of the warrior's damaged fingers and scratched chestplate, he thought in amusement. He just hoped Ironhide hadn't gotten into too much trouble for letting him go.

As he thought this, he placed his left foot on a narrow ledge that he assumed was solid and released his other foot, as well as a hand-hold. The ledge crumbled under his full weight and sent him tumbling down the almost sheer rock-face. Something flashed past the corner of his optic and he shot his right hand up. His fingers closed around a jutting outcrop and he held on tight. To his relief, it didn't crumble. Quickly he scrabbled for another hold and found one with his left foot. Inhaling deeply, he did a quick scan for damage and winced. Energon ran down his hand from a gash on his right forearm, and apart from some structural damage, he'd pulled a few internal servos and burnt out a couple of wires. Nothing too severe, but Ratchet was still going to have his head for a paper-weight.

Finally, as the sky above him began to lighten, he reached the bottom of the ledge. Since he'd already messed up his chassis quite creatively, and since he had also wasted a good deal of precious time climbing down that cursed rock-face, he decided that the last couple of meters didn't really matter anymore and let go.

He dropped, quite literally, like a rock, hit the ground and rolled to absorb some of the impact. His head swam again as his equilibrium center protested, and he flopped onto his back. Around him the river roared in his audios as it rushed on its swift way to meet its end. He could only hope it hadn't taken Sunstreaker with it. Tracking him through water wasn't going to be as easy as finding him on dry ground, but he had to try. This was his brother slaggit, and he'd be fragged if he let him go without a fight.

Though maybe Sunstreaker wouldn't mind too much if he rested a while first, as his body violently forbid any kind of movement at this point. He wondered for a moment if Ratchet had known he would try to do something like this and had therefore injected some sort of sedative into him to make sure he didn't get all that far. That was as far as his train of thought went as his optics soon shut off of their own accord.

………


	6. Chapter 6

Prowl stood by the entrance to the Ark watching as the sun crested the eastern mountain range in the distance. He scanned the horizon hoping to see a cloud of dust, or two primary colored forms heading towards him, but the landscape remained clear except for a couple of birds that flew up from a clump of trees. Jazz walked out to join him.

"We're just about ready to head out," he said.

"How's Ironhide?" Prowl asked.

"Recoverin'," Jazz replied. "From both Ratchet's fine ol' tirade about lettin' Sideswipe go out there on his own, as well as repairs. Why? You gonna do anythin'?"

"I think having him go through repairs with a foul-tempered Ratchet was punishment enough," Prowl said. "I just hope it was a decision that will pay off, rather than us losing the both of them."

"They've pulled through worse, they're strong guys."

"Yes, when at full capacity. Right now, they're both out there at less than half their capacity. Logically, they have a less-than-50 chance of surviving."

"Well, as long as it ain't zero, they still got a chance. Gotta stop thinkin' logically an' have a li'l hope man. If anyone can find Sunstreaker out there, its Sideswipe."

Prowl sighed. "I truly hope you are right Jazz."

"So do I, Prowl."

………

A beam of sunlight shining onto his face through the branches of the tree he was lying under, woke Sunstreaker up later that morning. He raised his head with a groan, then shivered. He frowned. That wasn't right. Quickly he checked his internal diagnostics, then cursed. The circuitry that powered his thermoregulator was currently fried – had most likely shorted out because of all the water – and the only reason he hadn't felt the changes in temperature during the night was because he'd been too exhausted and in pain to give a frag. Now though, in spite of the sunlight, he was feeling every bit of the early morning chill.

Clenching his jaws against the pain from his body, he turned over so that he was sitting on his aft and examined his injured leg. Energon had pooled on the soil from leaking cables and several wires still sparked in his knee. Muttering several curses and threats against Starscream and his heritage, Sunstreaker looked around to see if there was anything he could use to help him walk, 'cause there was no way in hell he was just going to sit around and wait for someone to come and rescue him. He simply wasn't that type of mech.

Furthermore, there was also the question if anyone was coming for him at all. He didn't expect Sideswipe to come. There was no way Ratchet would even let him out of the med-bay. Besides, he'd promised to come back on his own two feet, and that was what he was going to do. He just had to get ON his feet first.

If he could put a sort of splint on his leg like humans did when they broke a limb, he figured he could make some sort of progress. He turned over and crawled over to the tree again, then straightened, balancing on his good knee. Reaching up, he broke off a couple of branches that looked sturdy enough, then sat down again and stretched out his damaged left leg as far as it would go. Bullets of pain shot through him in protest as he pulled leaves and twigs off the branches and un-spaced a small ball of string that Sideswipe had asked him to hold on to incase they needed it for an impromptu prank.

Placing the branches on either side of his leg, he wrapped as much of the string around it as he could, finishing it off with a secure knot. Ratchet would probably scream at him later for getting organic dirt into it, but at least this way it held the broken rods and pistons in his leg in place, rather than have them fall out of alignment and cause him even more pain.

The make-shift splint in place, Sunstreaker slowly hauled himself back to his feet using the tree as leverage, and tried to orientate himself. At least it was a little less colder now than it had been when he woke up.

The most obvious choice to him at this point was to walk back up the river to where the ledge fell away into the gorge, and then try to climb back out and walk from there. It sounded relatively simple in theory, but how he was going to climb with his injured leg was another matter. Still, he had to start somewhere, might as well begin with phase one – walking back to the ledge.

It was by no means easy. His body ached, he still felt stiff despite the sun, and his leg slowed him down considerably. At times he was almost dragging it through the grass and dirt. Several times a sense of dizziness over-took him and he had to stop till it passed. Better that than to keep walking and end up in the river again. That was the last thing he wanted right now. Checking his energy gauges as he willed himself to go on again, he found them at a moderate level. It was a small comfort to him, but they wouldn't stay that way forever, and he didn't want to test his limits. There was still a long way to go, eventhough it hadn't felt like it the previous night since Starscream had been flying at mach speeds, and the river had carried him even further away. Primus only knew how much farther he had to go. He could only hope it wasn't too far.

By noon, he was completely exhausted. There was still no sign of the ledge that the battle had taken place on, but at least the landscape around him had changed a little. The slope down to the river on his left, as well as the thickly forested rise to his right, had gotten slightly steeper. Sunstreaker kept well away from the river. He didn't fancy another bath eventhough the edge looked solid enough to support his weight.

The sun beat down relentlessly, warming his cold armor, but also making him feel quite lethargic to the point where he slowed down considerably. Again he considered his options. While it felt good to be warm again, without his thermoregulator to regulate his temperature, there was the likelihood that too much time in the sun could cause him to overheat. Maybe it was better if he got out of the sun for a while and took another rest before trying to continue on again.

His mind made up, he limped off the main path and into the shade of the trees where he chose a particularly large one to carefully lower himself under, being extremely mindful of his injured leg. Once he was comfortable, he stretched out the damaged limb to take another look at it. Fluid still leaked in trickled from the ruptured cables and had coated the branches and string as well as the other parts of his wound, making it all slightly slick. He debated trying to clean it up, but in a way the leaking fluid lubricated the broken areas of his leg, making the rods and pistons rub against each other less roughly than they would have had they been dry. He decided to leave it.

Slowly his optics began to power down of their own accord no matter how hard he tried to keep them online. The sound of the river, coupled with the glare and heat of the sun, and his own weariness, soon began to lull him into a state of shut-down, though he tried to fight it off. He shook his head several times and rubbed his optics in an effort to keep awake, but it seemed like his body just didn't want to co-operate with him, demanding that he shut down for a while to give his systems a chance to rest and catch up with the rest of him.

The aches in his chest and mid-section settled the matter for him, and he curled up carefully under the tree intending to sleep for just a short while and then continue on again.

………


	7. Chapter 7

Sideswipe sat up with a jerk and looked around in bewilderment for a moment. For just a second he wondered why he had a vast blue sky above him instead of the gun-metal orange of his room's ceiling. Then the noise of the rushing river close by brought everything back in a flurry. Sunstreaker was out there, possible very hurt and in need of his help. Groaning and cursing his equilibrium regulators to stay still, dammit, he slowly got to his feet, staggered a bit, then steadied himself. Right. Now for the walking.

Cautiously, with both hands stretched out to his sides, he began to take a few steps, trying not to lose his footing on the loose, wet rocks. One slip-up might mean a tumble into the river and he couldn't afford that. He'd considered jumping in at one point and letting the current carry him along till he spotted a trace of his twin, but the rocks, and the knowledge of what Ratchet would do to him when he found out, were enough to deter him to choose another course of action. Hence, the walking.

So he kept on walking, slowly but surely until he could no longer see the ledge behind him, and the sun had reached its noon position in the sky. Sideswipe let out a loud, pained sigh. He was tired, his wounds were starting to hurt, the sound of the river was starting to make his audios throb, and there was still no fragging sign of his brother. He looked up at the sun and frowned darkly.

"He's named after you, so at least give me some slagging sign of where to look!" he yelled at the bright golden orb. "Is that too much to ask?!"

He picked up a rock and flung it into the river with a cry of frustration, only to feel foolish after that when he pictured how Sunstreaker would react. Probably tell him to stop whining and get on with it.

And get on with it he did, forcing himself to keep going forward, telling himself that if he gave up, Sunstreaker would die. Then, as he was almost reaching the second hour after noon, it seemed that luck had finally decided to cut him a break. A flock of birds flew up from a clump of trees on the opposite bank, startling Sideswipe into looking in their direction. That was when a flash of yellow caught his optics. He stared, then swore. It was Sunstreaker alright, but on the opposite bank; and with no visible way to get across save swimming, the red mech was at his wit's end trying to think of a way to get to him.

"Trust you to make my life difficult, Sunny," he muttered, as he searched his subspace pockets for something – anything – he could use.

Finding nothing, he gave up and looked around helplessly one last time. Finally he looked at himself. He still had the use of all four of his limbs – sore as they were – and his equilibrium regulators seemed to be holding up so far. Well then, it looked like there was only one thing he could do – and Ratchet was going to kill him for it – because he'd be slagged if he was going to let a little bit of water keep him from his brother. With a small prayer to Primus, he threw himself off the bank and plunged into the river.

The current caught him almost immediately – even before he could surface – as he fought to right himself and get his head above the water. Kicking furiously with both legs, he surfaced, then struck out for the bank with all his strength, all the time fighting the pull of the current. As he neared the bank with its steep incline, one of his pile-drivers snicked into place and the moment he brushed up against the soil, he drove it hard and fast into the compact ground. The pile-driver embedded itself and stuck, jerking Sideswipe to a sharp, sudden stop. The red mech winced as he felt something in his arm scream in pain. He kicked out again and grabbed at the bank with his other hand.

"Fraggit all Sunstreaker," he muttered. "You so owe me big time for all this."

"I never asked you to come out here in the first place, you slagger," came the reply.

Sideswipe snapped his head up, only just managing to keep his hold, and looked into identical ice-blue optics.

Sunstreaker, having been woken up by the vibration of the pile-driver lodging into the ground, and his brother's oaths and curses, had first sat up and stared in disbelief, then come to his senses and dragged himself over to help him. Now he leaned over the incline and stretched his hand down to his twin, ignoring the groans of protest from his own body. Sideswipe hesitated only a moment before flinging himself up and catching the yellow mech's hand in his own. Fingers locked and Sunstreaker pulled, bracing himself with his other hand and clamping his jaws shut against the cries of pain that threatened to break free. For his part, Sideswipe pushed himself up, yanking his pile-driver free and jamming it into the ground again for leverage.

With a final heave, the red mech cleared the edge and collapsed onto his brother who was now lying on the grass, his equilibrium regulators finally protesting any kind of movement till they could organize themselves again. Arms unconsciously wrapped around the other's body as they exchanged a long, lingering hug.

"You're a slagging idiot, y'know that bro," Sunstreaker said. "A huge, slagging idiot."

Sideswipe cracked a smile. "Yeah, I know. And you wouldn't have it any other way."

"No, I guess I wouldn't." A pause. "Ratchet's gonna kill us."

"Without question." Sideswipe gave a hollow chuckle, then pushed himself off his twin. He groaned as his head swam and collapsed onto his side. "If I can move to make it back."

Sunstreaker laughed in spite of the pain. "I thought you came out here to rescue me? Don't tell me I'm going to end up saving both our chassis again."

"No, you wont," Sideswipe replied. "I just need a moment, that's all."

"Yeah, me too. Though maybe its better if we got under some cover. Don't fancy sitting out here like a target."

"What do you suggest?"

"Move further into the trees. It'll be harder to spot us there."

Sideswipe groaned at the thought of moving, but knew his brother was right. "Oh fine." He rolled onto his knees, about to crawl. "Can you make it?"

"I pulled your aft out of a river didn't I? I'll manage."

Pressing an arm to his torso and letting his injured leg drag, Sunstreaker crawled back to the tree he'd been lying under, Sideswipe carefully following behind. Once there, the yellow mech collapsed back down, the pain from his strained body finally overwhelming him. The red watched him carefully, knowing that if he didn't get him back soon, there was a very real chance of losing him.

………


	8. Chapter 8

Prowl's radio crackled as several comm.links connected to his frequency to let him know that they had searched their allotted quadrants as much as they could have without any success, and were heading back to the base now that the sun was slowly starting to set and there was no good trying to search for clues in the dark. The second-in-command approved their requests and dismissed them, then turned off his radio with a sigh.

"No sign of 'em huh?" Jazz asked as he pulled up beside the other black-and-white.

"Nothing," Prowl admitted.

"I think we should check out the battle-site," Windcharger said, stopping on his other side. "I'd bet my magnetic capabilities that's where Sideswipe would've headed first."

Prowl scanned the sky. "We'll never make it there before nightfall. We'll have to go first thing in the morning. By rights, that's also the first place we should have checked, but I didn't want to risk running into any Decepticons who might have come back to salvage their machine."

"I don't like leavin' 'em out there a second night," Jazz said. "That's stretchin' it."

"Its better than wandering aimlessly in the dark where we might miss any signs they may have left."

"Y're the boss. I just hope we don't find 'em too late."

"My hope is that both of them have managed to find each other, and we don't have to go looking for two of them separately."

………

Almost three hours after they had collapsed from exhaustion under the tree, Sideswipe pushed himself to his feet, and after giving himself a moment for his head to settle, he helped Sunstreaker up and slung his arm around his own shoulders. The yellow mech leaned against him gratefully, taking some of the weight off his damaged leg and managing to hobble a few steps. Sideswipe wrapped an arm around his brother's waist to hold him up, then looked at him.

"Ready to move on?" he asked.

"Gonna be night soon," Sunstreaker told him.

"We'll keep going as much as we can. It'll give us some cover if there're any 'Cons out flying." Sideswipe couldn't resist a grin. "Unless you're afraid of the dark."

"Frag you," was Sunstreaker's reply.

"I love you, too, bro," Sideswipe said.

"Yeah. Now let's get moving."

As the sun dipped below the horizon and the stars came out to play, the brothers kept going, making slightly better time than Sunstreaker had on his own, since he now had Sideswipe to help him. For his part, the red mech went at an easy pace, doing his best to ease the stress on his twin's leg and equally battered body. He wouldn't let it show on his face, but he was worried.

"Don't worry," Sunstreaker said, and Sideswipe almost started in surprise. "It looks worse than it is."

"Can the bravado, Sunshine. There's no one here to see it," the red twin replied. "You know I always worry about you."

"Yeah, I worry about you, too. How's the head?"

"Still arguing with me about which way is up."

"You tell it who's boss?"

"Doing that now."

Sunstreaker grunted in approval. He wasn't that hazed by pain to realize that Sideswipe needed him to keep upright just as he needed Sideswipe. It was much like their overall relationship. They needed each other to keep on going, and as long as one had the other there to help him along, neither would give up. Sunstreaker stumbled once and Sideswipe caught him, before staggering slightly himself, only to be kept upright by Sunstreaker. Then what happened to one, also inevitably happened to the other; and that, Sunstreaker mused, was probably why he'd gotten damaged in the first place.

"Sunny? Is everything alright?" Sideswipe asked. He sounded concerned. "You're so quiet."

"I'm fine. I was just thinking," Sunstreaker replied.

"Well don't." He tried to cover up his concern. "You might hurt yourself more."

"Oh, haha. Its better than being killed by your attempts at humor."

"At least I have a sense of humor."

"Yup. And its as entertaining as watching paint peel."

"Nice to know your charm wasn't damaged along with the rest of you."

Sideswipe didn't mind these verbal sparring contests. They assured him that Sunstreaker was still with him and not drifting off into some place he couldn't, and didn't want to, follow. Call him possessive, but he didn't want to share his brother with anyone else just yet – higher powers or not, Sunstreaker was his and his alone. Call him selfish, but neither did he feel like following to wherever it was his twin would go. He was still having too much fun in his current world and wanted his brother there with him, too. Sunstreaker's response to his twin's comment was to cough up and spit out a glob of under-processed energon that glistened with a sickly wetness under the light of the half-moon that had long since replaced the sun. Sideswipe stopped and looked at him in alarm.

"Sunny?!"

"Just some energon that probably leaked into my air-circulators," he replied.

"Energon's not supposed to leak into air-circulators."

"I know." Sunstreaker sighed. "Maybe we should rest a bit. We've cleared some of the distance anyway. A few hours of rest wouldn't hurt."

Thoroughly worried now, Sideswipe led him to the shelter of another large tree and carefully eased him down before his own knees buckled over and he landed on his aft with a thump. That got a chuckle out of the yellow warrior and cut off the curse the red mech had been about to emit. Instead, he just grinned, and then dragged himself to sit beside Sunstreaker so that his twin could lean against him.

It was slightly colder than the previous night had been, and Sunstreaker soon found himself pressing against Sideswipe's warmer body to keep out the chill. A shiver rattled his armor, and attracted the red twin's attention. Sunstreaker dismissed his question with a shake of his head before resting it against the other's shoulder.

"Thermoregulator's fried," he said softly. "So's engine."

"You're cold?"

"Just a little."

Sideswipe shifted slightly and managed to wrap both arms around his twin, pulling him close to share the warmth he was trying to generate by revving up his engine to idle. It kept the yellow mech warm through the colder hours of the night as he dozed restlessly in his brother's embrace, trying not to disturb the already-sleeping mech.

The red twin's engine finally gave out as dawn began to break, waking him with a sharp jolt of pain as it consumed its last drop of allotted energon. The jerk of Sideswipe's body woke Sunstreaker, who looked at his brother in concern.

"Engine's gone," Sideswipe informed him.

"Shouldn't have let it run for so long."

"Well I wasn't gonna let you freeze yourself to stasis either. It doesn't matter, we're gonna make it back today anyway."

"Don't think I can do it bro."

"Then don't slagging think." Sideswipe frowned. "Didn't come out here just to have you give up on me on the last stretch."

Sunstreaker extricated himself from his twin's arms and sighed. "Just hurts."

"Yeah, I know it does, but I wouldn't have figured you for a quitter either." Sideswipe slowly pulled himself to his feet, using the tree as leverage. "So? You coming?"

"Fine." Sunstreaker hobbled up to his own feet. "But if I keel over on the way, I'm leaving it to you to explain to Ratchet why it is I'm not walking in on my own."

"Deal, and I'll even carry your sorry aft the rest of the way back if you do."


	9. Chapter 9

As the sun rose above the distant hills, Prowl, Jazz, Ratchet and Ironhide set off from the Ark, driving with all speed towards the patch of desert that had been the latest battleground two nights ago, none of them speaking and all of them hoping that all was not lost for the brothers…

… As the sky above them began to lighten and grow bluer, Sideswipe half-helped, half-dragged his twin brother along the narrow pathway between the grove of trees and the steep drop down to the river. Sunstreaker's make-shift splint had broken just as they had started off earlier that morning, and each step sent a jolt of pain up the warrior's leg as his knee – now free of restraint – tried to bend in the natural motion of walking. Energon leaked from the wound, dripped down his leg and left a slick trail on the path behind them. The pain in his torso also seemed to have doubled.

"Sideswipe – bro…," he began.

"Shut UP, Sunstreaker," the red mech snapped. "Don't you fragging give me that defeatist attitude. You slagging promised me that you'd make it back okay."

"Heh… I did, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you slagging well did. I'm holding you to it."

"Would you hate me if I broke a promise?"

"I'm not even going to grace that with an answer."

Sideswipe knew he sounded angry – furious even – but that was only because he was terrified. He didn't like the way Sunstreaker was standing to talk and it scared him silly, but rather than admit it, he chose to mask it with anger, hoping to bait his brother into not giving up by taunting him with insults. He didn't care if Sunstreaker would beat the tar out of him for it later, what mattered was that there would be a later for him. He tried to hurry, forcing himself to move faster for Sunstreaker's sake, and tried to ignore the guilt that welled up in him each time a cry of pain escaped his brother's lips.

"Yes, I would hate you," he replied about an hour after Sunstreaker had asked the question. "I would hate you with every fiber of my being, and I would never nor talk to you ever again, so there!"

"Don't you think that's a little extreme?" Sunstreaker asked.

"Oh, I'M being extreme?! And I suppose you're being perfectly rational when you say you wanna give up and leave me!"

"Sideswipe…"

"Just shut up, Sunstreaker!"

"Do you already hate me? I haven't broken a promise yet."

"I don't hate you."…

… The four Autobots reached the battlefield, and after a quick scan to check for Decepticons, they transformed and looked around.

"Spread out," Prowl instructed. "Pick a compass point and search thoroughly. This is our last chance to find them."

They scoured the ground for clues, but found nothing more than pieces of scrap metal, and a few blackened patches of earth, some paint shavings, and some energon stains. Ironhide opened a comm.link to Prowl.

"I'm gonna scout on ahead. That's the only way Sideswipe coulda gone if he found anything."

"Affirmative. We'll catch up with you soon. Prowl out."

The red mech shut the link, transformed, and drove off kicking up a cloud of dust in his wake. He reached the ledge soon enough, transformed back and scanned the ground. His optics didn't take long to spot the 's.s' that had been scratched into the dry earth. That on its own didn't help much, granted that Starscream shared the same initials of sorts as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Then he saw the flakes of red paint closer to the edge. He commed Prowl again.

"I think we got somethin' here. Ol' Sideswipe may have left us a sign."

There was a crackle, then Prowl's voice came back over the link.

"We're on our way."

Ironhide straightened and looked out over the landscape below him, noting the river and the wilderness that seemed to stretch on for miles. He shook his head, a sinking feeling in the pit of his storage banks. The twins could be anywhere.

"We could use a break here, Primus," the old warrior muttered…

\---------


	10. Chapter 10

… After hobbling along for what seemed like hours upon hours, the Twins finally saw the sheer ledge rise up before them. Sideswipe at least was relieved. Sunstreaker had gotten quieter the further they'd walked, which had only served to increase his worry for his twin. His own disability had been ignored as he focused on keeping the yellow mech upright and mobile.

"C'mon Sunny," he said, hefting his brother to his side. "Just a little more, we're almost there. This is the last stretch."

"Yeah, for me as well," Sunstreaker replied softly.

"Don't give me that slag," Sideswipe warned. "You're gonna make it, do you hear me? You're not gonna quit now."

"Look at that thing Sideswipe. How are we going to climb that? Maybe you can, but you know I can't, not in my state. Its asking too much."

"How dare you, fragger!" Sideswipe would have liked to have hit him for that comment, but restrained himself to verbal blows instead. "I never asked that of you! I'll slagging carry you on my back if I have to. You're the one asking for too much if you think I'm just gonna leave you here."

"Bro, I'm just saying…"

"Don't say anything. Keep your mouth shut and save your strength. You're gonna need it."…

… As the sound of running engines approached, Ironhide moved to turn away from the ledge to report to Prowl about what he had seen, when a flash caught the corner of his optic. Shaking his head and thinking it had been a sliver of sunlight glinting off the water, he glanced back again to make sure. Then he did a double-take. Sunlight reflected off the remnants of a cracked and partially shattered windshield as two little figures approached the large slab of rock.

"Well I'll be slagged," he said. Then he turned back to the others who were just coming up. "Hurry up! They made it!"

The other three rushed up to see for themselves and Ratchet swore colorfully upon seeing the state Sunstreaker was in.

"I'm going to rebuild him into a gold-plated music box! I warned the little slagger not to do anything stupid and look at what he's gone and done to himself! And if Sideswipe has done ANYTHING equally creative, he's going to join his brother as an amplifier!"

Jazz chuckled. "We're glad they're okay, too, Ratchet."

………

The brothers reached the base of the ledge and looked up at the towering wall of rock before them. Sideswipe remembered the climb down and wondered to himself if he really could get both of them up all that way. A fall would mean damage, and to Sunstreaker, damage equalled death. As if to enhance the severity of the situation, Sideswipe swayed suddenly and leaned on his twin for support. Sunstreaker bit back a whimper as he steadied his brother, sending pain shooting through his injured leg.

Then a voice came down from the heavens.

"You guys need a lift?"

They looked up and saw a familiar, blue-visored face grinning back down at them from the top. Jazz drew back his arm and swung, releasing his grappling hook and length of cable, letting it run all the way down till the hook dangled in front of Sideswipe's face.

"Grab on! We're gon' pull ya up!"

"Thanks Jazz!" he called back, then turned to his twin. "Just hold onto me alright, bro? You're gonna be okay."

Sunstreaker gave him a quick hug. "Thanks for not giving up on me."

"Thanks for not giving up; now get on."

The yellow mech clung to his brother's back as the red coiled the cable around his hands and gave a light tug to signal Jazz that they were ready. The combined weight of the two Lamborghinis nearly yanked the saboteur off his feet, but Ironhide and Prowl were able to anchor him as the mechanics in his arm worked to slowly but surely pull the brothers up. As Sideswipe's head cleared the edge, Ratchet leaned down and hauled Sunstreaker off the red mech's shoulders none too gently, eliciting a cry of pain from the yellow twin.

"Don't hurt him!" Sideswipe called as Jazz laid hold of his shoulders.

Ratchet silenced him with a look. "The frag did you do to yourself?!" he demanded as he laid the beaten warrior down to check on him. "I thought I told you I'd slag you if you did something idiotic like this?"

"It wasn't my fault!" Sunstreaker protested. "Starscream-."

"Just shut up and get inside," Ratchet groused as he helped the warrior to stand, his touch a lot gentler than his voice. "And you!" He leveled a finger at Sideswipe who was slowly getting to his own feet with assistance from Ironhide, as Prowl helped Jazz up. "You and I are going to have a little chat when we get back, and you'd better not have taken any damage or so help me Primus…"

Sideswipe gulped. "Yes Ratchet."

Ironhide chuckled and transformed, opening his back door while the medic did the same for the yellow mech. "Get in kid."

The red mech did so after making sure his brother was safely loaded into the white ambulance. Jazz took up position as rear guard while Prowl took the lead in the front.

"Autobots, lets head for home."

END.


End file.
